Also a cardiovascular surgeon, Mukai has flown more than 560 hours in space, including three NASA Space Shuttle flights. One of those was with Ohio Sen. John Glenn in 1998. Mukai also was the first Japanese woman to fly in space and the first Japanese astronaut to fly twice.

She has held faculty positions at Baylor College of Medicine, Keio University School of Medicine in Tokyo and International Space University in France. She also was a visiting scientist at NASA Johnson Space Center's Space Biomedical Research Institute.

Credited with approximately sixty publications since 1979, she holds a Ph.D. and an M.D. from Keio University School of Medicine. The Fritz J. and Dolores H. Russ College of Engineering and Technology and the Society of Women Engineers, Ohio University chapter, sponsor the talk.

The Fritz J. and Dolores H. Russ College of Engineering and Technology at Ohio University in Athens, Ohio, educates well-rounded professionals with both technical and team-project skills who become our business, government, and industry leaders. The college offers undergraduate and graduate degrees across the traditional engineering spectrum and in the technology disciplines of aviation, computer science, and industrial technology. Strategic research areas include bioengineering, energy and the environment, and smart civil infrastructure. Named for alumnus Fritz Russ and his wife Dolores, the Russ College is home of the Russ Prize, one of the top three engineering prizes in the world. For more information, visit www.ohio.edu/engineering.